The first good scoring chance would come in the fourth minute ,when Takayuki Suzuki was not able to turn on the ball at the top of the Islanders box, but dropped the pass to Chris Brown, whose shot was blocked wide by an Islander defender. Two minutes later the Islanders would have their first sniff of the Timbers goal, when a header by Noah Delgado from 10 yards out was deflected wide.

But one mine later Puerto Rico had a golden opportunity to take the lead, when Noel Fabrice made a nice run into the box down the right side, cut back away from the endline, and played a nice cross right onto the head of Christian Arrieta, whose wide open header from barely five yards out was over the crossbar. Two minutes later, they would have another open header chance, this time by Taiwo Arieno, but the soft header slipped a few yards over top of the bar and rested in the top netting.

In the 15th minute, the Timbers would have a great chance when Andrew Gregor played a nice ball into the run of Brown, who had two defenders challenging him as he charged into the box, but still managed to poke a shot with his left foot that slipped just past the right post.

The Timbers would control much of the run of play for the remainder of the first half, and a nice through ball from Shaun Higgins was only a step too far for a charging Lawrence Olum, but Puerto Rico goalkeeper Bill Gaudette was able to come off his line and smother the ball right off Olum’s foot at the top of the Islanders box.

Both teams would have a good look at goal over the next few minutes, but couldn’t threaten the opposing goalkeeper until in the 38th minute, a cross from Suzuki found Timbers defender Cameron Knowles at the far post, but his header was wide of the left post.

In the 40th minute, the Timbers would go up a man when Atieno was sent off for an elbow to the face of Justin Thompson, but the Timbers would not able to generate any scoring chances for the rest of the first half, and the match would be scoreless at the break.

Just two minutes into the second half, the home side looked ready to take the lead when Brown had an open look from near the top of the box and hit a dipping shot that appeared headed into the net but Gaudette, though reacting late, hade a nice diving save to tip the shot just wide of the post. In the 54th minute, repeating a familiar theme on this night, a nice cross from Olum found Brown with an open look near the Islanders penalty spot, but his header was wide right.

In the 64th minute, it appeared the Islanders started having problems with players cramping up on the field, with first Scott Jones going down and stopping play for a few minutes, then Daniel Ojeda also going down with cramps a few minutes later, despite the fact that it seemed a pleasant evening by Portland standards for April, with the temperature around 50 degrees for much of the game and no rain.

The Islanders would still have one player off the pitch getting attended to (Ojeda) which meant they were two players down on the pitch when the Timbers would make them pay, when in the 71st minute, Tommy Poltl played a ball to Brown who was about 40 yards out directly in front of the Islanders goal, and turned on the ball, and moved up about 15 yards unchallenged by the Islanders defense and measured a shot and blasted the ball low towards the left corner of the net, and the ball skipped past Gaudette and into the Islanders goal, and the Timbers had scored the first goal of the 2008 season, and taken a 1-0 lead.

After no more good scoring chances for either team, and a third delay for an Islanders player cramping and going down on the pitch, this time Fabrice, the match went into five minutes of stoppage time.

Seconds after the match entered stoppage time, in one of the most bizarre events seen at PGE Park, an Islanders assistant coach did not feel that Shaun Higgins had played the ball back to an Islanders player quickly enough for a throw-in, after the referee had called the throw back for the player going too far up the line, and the Islanders assistant ran out on the pitch, grabbed the ball from Higgins’ feet, then oddly enough, just kicked the ball out of bounds, nowhere near his own player. A minor scrum ensued, but the Islander assistant was immediately sent to the locker room with a bench ejection for entering the field of play.

Seconds later, the Timbers had a great chance to widen their lead when Higgins, Suzuki, and Brown had a 3-on-1 break, but Gaudette made a nice save on the first shot, then after Brown pushed the ball past him on the rebound, Osei Telesford cleared the ball off the line and the threat was ended.

Ray Burse recorded four saves for the Timbers in his first start, and Bill Gaudette had six saves in the losing effort.